Pam Geller has the courage of her convictions so she pokes a bear that badly needs poking. She realizes that her actions put her at risk but it is a risk she is willing to take. How many of us can say the same?
IMO, Geller is forcing the devout Muslims of ISIS to define a standard of tolerance in the U.S.. Many have Pam as intolerant. Ridiculous. Pam Geller is doing what few have the balls to do, forcing the revealing of Muslim's willingness to act based on there devout submission to Islam as ISIS is doing here, the Mid-East, and Europe. Once those intolerances are expressed in actions as Pam Geller has done, then the Ben Afleck liberals who plead for diversity and tolerance of supernatural worship of all types can realize the fruits of their embracing religions' "right" to enjoy a critic free environment,
I would venture to guess that there are more legitimate threats to her, than there are to the current president. Yet we happily pay the salaries of the Secret Service (who have proven to be pretty damn incompetent at that!). I would also say that her needs to be protected are easily justified, even if it means to take some of the bodyguards away from politicians and assign them to this law-abiding, tax-paying, ordinary citizen. For God's sake, isn't that what the cops are for? To protect the good guys from the bad guys?
The police duty to protect is to the general public, not the individual. This is one of the lies that is put forward by gun control advocates. Citizens don't need guns for protection because that's what the police are for. Except, no, police have discretionary function and can ignore any call for help. And what makes it worse is they are protected by sovereign immunity in most cases, so you cannot sue when they don't provide that protection.
It's surprising how few people understand that the police are not a security service. In fact most would be shocked to find that this issue was decided by the Supreme Court (Castle Rock vs Gonzales) absolving law enforcement of any responsibility to protect. As the saying goes, when the threat is seconds away, the police are minutes away.
Agreed. The police, except for intervening in the occasional "robbery in progress", perhaps triggered by a silent alarm, are virtually never "in the right place at the right time". nor is that their function. There job is primarily to apprehend the perp after the crime is done.
All the more reason for the 2nd Amendment, and why Pam Geller (and all citizens) have an absolute right to self defense.
But, no, she is not entitled to special protection at my expense.
Under the law, a president, including family, would receive Secret Service protection for l0 years. Good enough. But the WH PukePod changed that to LIFETIME protection. Thinking of himself? Or scared for himself??
I like Pam Geller because she has made a judgment and voiced it in public in an era that fears judging and being judged. Other than that I know nothing abut her.
I love Pam Geller, as I do Brigitte Gabriel. Pam is Jewish from NYC, and Brigitte is a Christian, originally from Lebanon, now an American. But both are incredibly brave women ( braver than any men I can think of !) to speak truth to the evil of (radical) Islam. Pam also started a blog in 2004 called Atlas Shrugged. For anyone who doubts that there is a powerful faction of Islam that desires to restore the caliphate and sharia law around the world really isn't paying attention.
Old dino views Pam Geller as a heart throb. I read somewhere that she is a Jew. (Someone here said she's Christian). I'm not a Jew but I don't care. Which or whatever. Her being a Jew or a Christian with Jewish roots would in part explain her big time problem with radical Muslims. I've read all the comments here and noticed that someone called her a bigot. Modern day Muslim extremists are the worst bigots on the face on the planet. They act like bygone Nazis. Modern day Christians and Jews do not kill people they disagree with. Radical Muslims such as ISIS do not only commit multiple murders, they think up horrible ways of doing it. They also take little girls for sex slaves. I've heard Geller speak speak against Shariah Law being implemented in the USA. Shariah Law--Talk about a for really real big time barbaric war on women!
Moderate Muslims exist, at least in the US. But it's hard to tell them from the bad ones, AND, just like cops, the mostly-good ones will often help the bad ones get away with murder.
The lesson I learn here is that if these people are going to have the same constitutional rights as everyone else, then we at least need some police around who speak Arabic, so that it isn't any easier for them to hide crimes than it would be for you and me.
Good point. The Special Services teams in the Middle East lobbied for women to be permitted to join in part because they discovered that there were things they could not find out/ places they could not go because they were male - they needed female team members.
We do need cultural and linguistic Middle Easterners in our police force (and some of them will be Islamic). More, though, we need the police force itself to increase in quality.
Aw drat! I am going to have to agree with RonJohnson. I LIKE Pam Geller, but what RonJohnson is saying is that (a) he does not 'like' her as a personal reaction, (b) he thinks that she is voluntarily putting herself at risk, and (c) she should not be protected by the gov out of tax money.
Sigh. I think all of those things are straight on.
I like Pam Geller (personal reaction) but I agree with (b) and (c). On the other hand, I wish that hundreds of people would sponsor "Draw a Cartoon of Mo" contests - and that each of them would lure a couple of fanatics out of the woodwork to be shot by off-duty heroic cops. Very, Darwinian, that.
Where I do not agree with RonJohnson is that 'only two' fanatics is not something that we should be concerned about. If there were a "Draw a cartoon of Pope Frank" contest and 'only two' Catholic fanatics tried to kill the organizer it would outrage everyone, including the Catholic Church (and Frank!).
I think I donated to her in the past, but I am going to look up her site again and throw a few bucks in her direction to defray a bit of the 30K.
Have read and donated to Pam over the years. Should she have received HALF the attention the media insisted on giving Caitlyn perhaps more of us would be aware of what is really happening re: Sharia Law. Go Pam!!
The sanity or lack thereof of Pam Geller's "antics" depends on the veracity of her assertions regarding Islam, particularly that Islam preaches that its adherents should be false to the world so that they can be true to Islam and its call for worldwide Sharia. It cannot then be known to what extent Islam, including the 2/3 of American so-called "quiet moderates" who nevertheless favor worldwide Sharia, is a threat to Americans at home and the non-Islamic world. Pam Geller is not in the camp of those who would wait to find out.
it seems apparent that the "death to America" and Christian beheadings facts show their character. and, yes, I am speaking of radical Muslims only. -- j .
I am not that familiar with Pam Geller, but my guess is she would say there's little difference in ideology between so-called radicals and moderates, only in willingness to act. Unlike the Bible or the Torah, the Koran is essentially a call to action. Among such calls is the subjugation or slaughter of non-Muslims. Do so-called moderates disagree or are they simply lying in wait, and if we don't know, should we be importing them? That's probably Geller's main concern.
When you take a stand, you execute on a strategy, take a risk into a particular business, or activity, YOU are accountable for the "Risks" involved, be it walking through Harlem yelling racial epithets, or having Mohammed cartoon contests.
Where the "Injustice" is is expecting tax dollars to pay for her security since we are accountable for our own safety in life and business
If she asked for donations to fund her security I would be happy to contribute from a "Self-Interest" standpoint, but I would be offended to be FORCED to pay for her security via taxation.
The punishment for the person who attacks the person running through Harlem hurling racial epithets should be the same for the person attempting to kill someone drawing a Muhammad cartoon. The severest punishment (preferably terminal) should be imposed. There is NO justification for the initiation of violence. Period.
I totally agree with you. However; in this world we live in, we know 100% for certain how some people will act and react.
Their action or reaction is not justifiable in any way, however that does not stop them from it.
Having said that, IF I were to run through Harlem, I would make sure I had a small army with me to protect me from said reaction that I know would come.
I do something, I need to know what I am doing, how people will react and FUND the protection myself.
What's not to like? Unless, of course, you want to fundamentally change the U.S. and/or support the imposition of Sharia law upon all human beings...then there's not much to like.
Pam Geller is most similar to Ragnar Danneskjold. She is stealing back stolen concepts used to exploit the foundations of reason and liberty. Stand with Pam.
It is a pity she is as outspoken on being a Christian as she is anti-Islam. I guess she left part of her thinking capacity on the doorstep of the church. Nonetheless, I applaud her for coming to the forefront and making an issue of the violent religious intolerance in the Islamic branch Abrahamic religions.
Is a State being threatened? I think not but could of course be wrong. Well try life, liberty and... Or try the first Amendment as so many do? However you and Miss Geller may have to wait for a change of power. Especially if you are trying to invoke the Constitution. Now if you could prove the reason for the security were terrorists you might get somewhere with the Patriot Act. Those folks need no pesky legalities to take action.
Back on track. What State or States.the Federal Governments power stops with the Second Amendment ruling for the most part. So what does the State or States Constitutions offer?
That's the local cops and the question What are they for? Unless a known threat exists they are for investigating afterwards. Clearly a known threat in this case.Since a known threat exists the police are automatically involved and responsible - to the extent allowed by the State Constitution etc. etc. etc. To embellish livefree-NH's comment.
Not to be overly facetious but any news network might offer to pick up the bill if the results would help them during sweeps week - as long as they had an exclusive with book and movie rights.
Given the scenario I would put more faith in the latter than the former as a means of protection.
Unless there is a drastic change in occupancy
I rather like the answer given by minorwork but I'd still go for the book and movie deal. Guaranteed that's what the biggies are going to do beginning with the legacy building Obeyme.
No, I do not like Pam Geller. She provokes, then cries foul when she gets the reaction she wanted.
While I defend her legal right to be obnoxious, just as I defend the right of a woman to dress in skimpy nothing, get drunk, and walk through a bad part of town at night, alone, it is imprudent for her to do so and I do not take it as my responsibility to protect her from her foolishness.
Pam Geller's thesis is that Islam is taking over and that the end-game is sharia law. There is precious little evidence of this, except for the few extreme deranged people who have reacted to her provocations. The vast vast majority of Muslims have simply ignored her and her antics. The vast vast majority of Muslims are NOT lobbying for sharia to be legally adopted.
Pam Geller is a bigot. She may have an expectation to be left alone by the government when she says and does inflammatory things, but she is disingenuous when she claims victim status for purposely provoking the tiny number of Islamic hotheads when they do exactly what she wants them to do.
Some MSM commentators have opined that Geller provoked Islamists with the cartoon contest. This is backwards. Islamists provoked a cartoon contest with multiple atrocities throughout the world.
Good, finally I can rant on some of the MSM fictional dramas I've seen:
I don't watch often, but occasionally the police dramas. Post-9/11, I saw quite a few plots involving terrorists who had committed violent crimes, and were of course foiled or apprehended in the end. Fine, But then there was always the final scene wrap-up, and it almost always turned out that the terrorist had a town bombed, or a loved one etc.killed by a US bomb strike or something similar. Never really motivated by ideology, of course. These types of wrap-ups were strangely missing in the shows about your plain, vanilla murderer or rapist.
I am so tired of the ridiculous meme that we (the US) are creating these guys. C'mon...if I want the "abuse excuse" I'll tune into Oprah, Montel or Dr.Phil...
Hmmmm. Test that thesis: if Pam Geller had not purposely, intentionally, and publicly set out to incite some unknown Islamic hothead into taking an overt act, she would almost certainly still be roaming the streets without bodyguards and without fear.
In fact, only TWO Muslims took overt criminal action. Millions of Muslims in this country, and tens of thousands in the Dallas area, ignored her, which was the proper reaction.
OK, let's test your analysis. . if it were not considered blasphemy to draw a caricature of Mohammed, then people would do it without concern. . since there is concern, and since we have a first amendment, drawing caricatures of Mohammed is essential to preserving freedom. . thus, her contest was a freedom-promoting activity. . the negative response was anti-freedom illegal self-expression. -- j
p.s. Mary or Jesus in a jar of urine is also essential to the preservation of freedom. . others can do it, though. .
Your reference to the "piss Christ" is apt. I am (thanks to AR) a former devout Christian, but being so I can very much understand why Christians were outraged. But all I recall was a lot of talking, and yes harsh talking, by prominent Christians against the artist, and perhaps a misguided attempt to have it "banned in Boston". But I don't remember anyone calling for the death of the artist, although there may have been, but not a significant number of people, and certainly no one tried to kill him.
One of the key (wrong) principles of Islam is not to blame men who commit crime, but find someone who "provoked" or "tempted" it and blame them instead.
You are doing that here. You are the bigot.
Pam Geller is absolutely right to force people who follow that principle to reveal themselves, hopefully before they kill anyone.
How am I the bigot? I have asserted no virtues or sins on anyone for any membership in any religion. I have made clear that taking an overt violent act is not to be tolerated. You clearly didn't read my comment.
However, I have also criticized Pam Geller for purposely trying to incite the rare unstable Muslim so she can smear the millions of peaceful Muslims that live all around us.
Lest you think that only Muslims are incited to violence by protected First Amendment activities, let me remind you of David Cole. As a young man he did a documentary in which he asserted that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz, and he went so far as to associate with Holocaust revisionists on broadcast TV to promote that point of view. The result is the ADL put a price on his head, and he was forced to issue a retraction he did not believe, change is name, and hide his identity for the next 20 years.
Did the ADL and Jews in general 'reveal themselves' when they threatened him with death? NO! That was actions taken by specific individuals...never prosecuted, by the way.
That's all Pam Geller is doing. She's inciting the unstable, and she is a fool for doing so.
Just as ordinary police deserve to be lumped in with the corrupt ones because they (1) cover up and (2) look the other way for them, so the millions of moderate Muslims cover it up and/or look the other way when jihadists kill people for blasphemy, apostasy, or "honor," and thus deserve to be lumped in with them.
Anyone who is out to destroy Western religious tolerance and multiculturalism should not be allowed to benefit from those policies.
The same goes for the lefties whose idea of tolerance stops where political incorrectness begins. But at least most of them aren't killing their opponents, yet.
Keep your head stuck in the sand, if you wish. A reliable estimate is that "only" 10% of the world's 1.2 billion Muslims are extremist. That means "only" 120 million of them want to kill or subjugate all non-Muslims (and many non-violent Muslims as well). Your argument about a woman who dresses "provocatively" falls apart, when you consider that argument has never gotten traction in the court as deserving of a crime enacted on her by another. Exercising free speech does not ensure some won't react in a way that is threatening, but when the reaction is criminal, society must support the right to say things that may offend, and punish the criminal.
Even if there are 120 million Muslims that 'want to kill or subjugate all non-Muslims' (a highly dubious assertion) they are most certainly not here. Of the millions of Muslims in this country, only a infinitesimal number have used violence to advance their religious principles. With so little evidence of danger to us non-Muslims, I have to chalk up your comment to paranoia or intentional fearmongering.
I suspect you did not read my comment very carefully, because I said that I would defend the right of a woman to dress provocatively if she wished, but I would consider it foolish for her to do so in certain circumstances. Of course the attacker is the guilty party, but a fine lot of good that knowledge does her when she is permanently scarred by an attack. Prudence would have been better protection than your moral outrage.
"Society" DID say the specific reaction by a specific individual was criminal. Nobody is disputing that. Pam Geller has used that one attack as her evidence that 1.2 billion people (or the radical 120 million, you say) are also guilty. Nonsensical. Unjust.
How many Muslims have you actually come in contact with? I've dealt with many in my life, including working with the Turkish military. I haven't knowingly met any of the most violent, but I have had some tell me they are personally worried about the fanatic element in the faith, and how it is both dangerous and a misrepresentation. I found the Sufi Muslims to be passionate believers in non-violent outreach, and they worry about serious conflict among the faithful, and how the fanatics could start a world war. The Shiite "Twelvers" believe they have a duty to bring on world conflict, which will bring back the 12th Imam, and the Sunni extremists believe they have an obligation to bring the world under the control of the caliphate. It is those elements that are a real danger, both to the greater population of Muslims, and to the rest of the world.
I deal with a wide variety of people from many parts of the world. I don't ask what their religion is, and they don't bother to tell me. If there are Muslims among them, they act just like everyone else. What is most important to me is how they treat me and whether or not they are honest partners in business. Their religion, like their skin color, is of no consequence.
I'm aware there are many strains of Islam. Your explanation is a nice concise overview. I'm also aware that until our military response to 9/11, the radical Islamists were fringe. We helped push part of the moderate Muslim world into the radical camp by our aggressive foreign policy of manipulation and domination that was a disaster for the Muslim world. Hundreds of thousands dead, millions displaced. It would not be hard for many of them to conclude that the U.S.'s primary policy was anti-Muslim.
I sure as hell would not have attacked Iraq, as they had nothing to do with attacking us, and I would not have invaded Afghanistan to get one man and his henchmen. I would have done as the Taliban had requested: given them the evidence that OBL did the attack so they would extradite him. Bush's administration refused.
I do not believe that's what she contends. . it was not what she said on Fox when I saw her. . twice. . now, Ayaan Hirsi Ali does include all of Islam -- but she was cut when she was young, and has experienced awful things. . Pam is not quite that inclusive. -- j .
Ron, I am certain that Pam does not "get the reaction she wanted." . I am certain that she wants NO reaction, and gets a negative one. . it's like the U.S. flags which fly from the dual antennas on my Harley -- I do not want a positive reaction, or a negative one -- it is self-expression. . I am a retired USAF LtCol. -- j .
Pam Geller has expressly said that she intends to get a response in order to prove that Muslims are a threat. That's not me surmising, that's her express strategy.
I don't care if Pam Gellar is a bigot. The first amendment isn't to protect popular speech, but it ugly, provocative, unpopular brother. The problem with your assessment of Islam not trying to impose sharia law is that it doesn't require the vast majority to impose it. It just take our acquesience to allowing the radicals to dictate the playing field. So if I am afraid of drawing Mohammed, I am allowing the radicals to take a step forward to pursuing their agenda because they now have me cowed. And can use the same tactic to press the next "law" they want to pursue. And if you disagree, look at the progressive agenda put forth in the United States. It's been almost 100 years in the making to dismantle this country's greatness and move it towards socialism. You don't make big changes, just little ones that slowly move the society in the direction you want it to go. Because once that little move become accepted, it's easier to make the next step and so on.
With all due respect to your opinion, I don't understand how in any way, shape or form she is a bigot. To me, a bigot is someone who hates, rails at or promotes violence against someone or some group without any rational justification, e.g., the KKK against blacks or Nazis against Jews or Muslims against just about everybody, including other Muslims who don't fit their particular bigoted view of what a "true" Muslim is.
Geller has more than ample evidence on her side that her opinions are actions are more than reasonable and well thought out. While "Nazis marching in Skokie" well fits your description of "ugly, provocative and unpopular speech" that yes should be protected speech, I don't think that describes what Pam Geller is saying and doing, nor the general public reaction to it.
No direct comparison intended, but I'm pretty sure that when Patrick Henry exclaimed "Give me liberty or give me death" he was damn well being provocative, and rightly so. And a lot of his contemporary fellow citizens did not
I like her, and admire her.
Apologies in advance for ranting against a very minor part of your post. The rest is excellent.
Your fear of Islam is outsized. There is no danger of America succumbing to Sharia Law, just as there is no chance that we will all be forced to be kosher.
I don't care if Pam is a bigot, either. The question was whether or not I like her. I do not. I don't like her bigotry, I don't like the way she disrespects people. I defend her right to be a bigot under the law, and therefore anybody who attacks her should be prosecuted. I also recognize that she is intentionally trying to set off some unstable individuals in order to smear an entire population of peaceful people. That is despicable.
The post had nothing to do with ISIS, just with whether or not we liked Pam Geller. I do not. I think she is unnecessarily abrasive, and I believe she is using provocation to incite unstable individuals in order to "prove" Muslims, and Islam in general, are dangerous.
As I stated in my comment, I defend her right to say whatever she wants, but I consider her to be despicable. She wants a violent response, that's why she does what she does.
But notice that she does not walk through a Black neighborhood in Chicago and yell "N-ggers" to prove that blacks are against free speech. She does not go to a biker bar and call them all "p-ssys' to prove they are anti-free speech. She would be just as likely to get a violent response in both of those cases as she has with the 'draw Mohammed' stunt.
I've yet to hear a single one of the vast vast majority of Muslims decry the excesses of ANY of the violent ones in their midst, and that includes ISIS and the other organizations engaged in activities that have nothing at all to do with Pam Geller. They're quiet about EVERYTHING, including the beheadings, crucifixions, slavery, etc. She's doing a service, poking that rat, and if it jumps up and tries to bite her, it needs to be met with the severest punishment. Any religion or ideology that supports the killing of someone for drawing a picture is so far off the rails as to be in the land of oz. If the "hotheads" can't control themselves, then they must be eliminated, because they're a clear and present danger.
"While I defend her legal right to be obnoxious, just as I defend the right of a woman to dress in skimpy nothing, get drunk, and walk through a bad part of town at night, alone, it is imprudent for her to do so and I do not take it as my responsibility to protect her from her foolishness. " I agree with you, but we're not protecting her from her foolishness. We're protecting the right to be an obnoxious idiot from criminals. I believe the right to be an idiot or wear revealing clothes is absolute. Exercising those rights does not mitigate the guilt of someone who commits a crime against them.
She isn't walking in a "bad part of town". The islamo-fasicists attack people everywhere. This is supposed to be a civilized country where the rights of the individual are protected, not a permanent state of cowering and fear before savages as if it were one big seedy back alley in a giant coast to coast slum. Standing up to that mentality is courageous and necessary, not foolish and obnoxious. The worst part of the danger long term is the craven cowardice of multiculturalists pandering to the savages as we are accused of "provoking" them for defying their demands for self-censorship and dhimmitude.
Perhaps an executive order making immigrants sign a statement they understand and will comply with their identification being made without their faces covered.. I suppose that would be profiling except can you profile a burka?
Point is why are we or any country granting citizenship to those whose intent is to immediately show an overt and open contempt for the country? I wonder if during the swearing in ceremony does the presiding Judge notice any covered faces? How else would they know who was becoming a citizen?
The ones who executed the 9/11 attack didn't even bother to apply for citizenship. They didn't need it. They increasingly don't need it to get welfare and vote for more of it either.
Agreed. I hope I made clear that the attackers are in the wrong. Period.
Prudence and common decency says that we don't go out of our way to offend. We don't use the term 'n-gger' because we know it upsets some people. We don't call Hell's Angels 'p-ssys' because it could lead to broken bones.
Frankly, Pam Geller could have drawn pictures of Mohammed all day long and it would not have been an issue...except that she made sure it WAS an issue by putting out a very public call for participation and sweetening her abrasiveness with a $10,000 award. Nothing could have been more in-your-face that what she did.
She had every right, legally and morally, to do what she did. But it does not change the fact that she was crass and insensitive. As with yelling "p-ssy" in a biker bar, she could reasonably expect a reaction. That doesn't forgive the attackers, but it makes Geller a lot less sympathetic as a victim. She was virtually begging to be attacked.
It is for her calculated intention to provoke that I don't like her. She is NOT interested in live and let live, as witnessed by the fact that she protested an entirely peaceful gathering of Muslims at the same venue in Dallas a couple of months earlier.
So, you suggest to keep quiet and not expressing opinions which might provoke a reaction from those who we disagree with. The reaction is not on Pam Geller, it is the responsibility of those who she pokes a finger at.
Have you ever heard the term "fighting words"? The responsibility shifts to the speaker when the words can be reasonably expected to draw a violent reaction. See below:
"The fighting words doctrine, in United States constitutional law, is a limitation to freedom of speech as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In 1942, the U.S. Supreme Court established the doctrine by a 9–0 decision in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire. It held that "insulting or 'fighting words,' those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace" are among the "well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech the prevention and punishment of [which] … have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem." Wikipedia
"Have you ever heard the term "fighting words"?" I associate the phrase with the South. In my part o the country, someone saying something really mean and stupid is not an excuse to hit them.
It's not my term, nor the term of any part of the country. It is a legal term that comes from a unanimous opinion of the Supreme Court. Please go back and read the rest of my comment, above.
I read it, but I thought it was saying that it does not violate free speech to have laws that consider fighting words tantamount to hitting. Oh... I see what you're saying. You're saying if such laws do not undermine free speech, then we don't have the right to say really obnoxious stupid things calculated to provoke people.
I err on the side of free speech, though. I find it very dangerous to consider something that sounds remotely like discourse, even stupid angry childish discourse, as outside the domain of free speech.
I also am pretty sure we don't have them in my state. In the eyes of the law you can same something godawful about someone with no policy message at all, and it's not self-defense if someone gets mad and hits you.
Before we go too far down the wrong road here: "fighting words" apply only in face-to-face confrontations. They are often included in disturbing-the-peace laws. I don't know what state you are in, but there's a pretty good chance that such rules apply to you, too. Generally the words have to have no intellectual content, just name calling that is likely to elicit a violent response.
Unless Geller is calling a person an Islamo-fascist to his face in a public place, there is no violation of the Fighting Words doctrine. If she did, however, and got a punch to the nose, she would be the cause of her own injury.
Fighting Words as a legal doctrine does not apply to Geller, as best I can tell.
Accusing Pamela Geller of begging to be attacked is dishonest and outrageous. As she stated on the infamous CNN interview, in response to the same depravity, who promotes to get himself killed [other than Islamic suicide bombers]? http://therightscoop.com/cnn-hosts-actua...
Public rejection and defiance of savages running around trying to behead innocent people over religious accusations of "blasphemy" and threatening civilization is not "crass and insensitive". This is America, not the Land of Dhimmitude. They deserve to be obliterated back to the 7th century they came from and where they want to be.
As Pamela Geller's NY subway poster on behalf of defending Israel put it: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man" (which apparently came from a similar statement by Ayn Rand). The CNN interviewer displayed a big smirk when she "accused" Pamela Geller of saying that, illustrating once again the depravity of those who pander to the savages.
If Geller is so tone-deaf that she cannot understand the likely effect of her antics on unstable individuals, then she compounds her insensitivity with stupidity. She says she did not intend to provoke a reaction, but her actions speak to the opposite.
I am unclear as to who, exactly, she is opposed to. All people who follow the Muslim faith? Or is she only opposed to the fundamentalist radicals who have committed highly publicized violent crimes? If the latter, she has good company because the vast majority of Muslims also oppose the radicals. But Geller does not partner with any Muslims, as far as I have seen. Instead, she goes out of her way to insult them. Their response was to ignore her. Only a couple of unstable individuals reacted violently, and they were condemned by other Muslims. Perhaps Geller's, and your, understanding of how the vast majority of people practice Islam is flawed.
All religions have their fringe. There is a Jewish fringe in Israel that has openly advocated and justified the killing of non-Jews. Fringe Christians have used the Bible to kill doctors who perform abortions, or kill Jews who they believe are decendents of those who killed Christ. These individuals do not define Judaism or Christianity, nor do the two gunmen in Dallas define the tens of thousands of Muslims in Dallas, not one of whom so much as protested Geller's gathering. Geller, on the other hand, rounded up a few hundred people to protest a peaceful gathering of Muslims at the same place a couple of months earlier.
Geller is not defending freedom. She attempted to use government force to prevent Muslims from building a community center and a mosque in NY. She mouths the words of freedom, but she acts very differently.
RonJohnson, go read the "holy book" of islam. Anyone proclaiming to be an adherent of islam is allowed to lie or deceive infidels as long as it advances the goals of islam. There can be no "moderate" muslim if they are a true believer of islam.
They're just killing Muslims by the thousands. Bombs. Drones. Artillery. Snipers. Hundreds of thousands dead in the last 15 years. Millions wounded and displaced. Don't think the Muslims haven't noticed.
You're deflecting. Deal with the fact that Jews and Christians are killing Muslims wholesale. It seems like every week Obama is droning some Muslim and killing a wedding party or a funeral party. Our military acknowledges a body count in Iraq of around 100,000 that they killed during the invasion and occupation. Tens of thousands of Afghans have been killed by coalition forces. I think the moral superiority of the Jews and Christians is a fiction once the bloodiness of their actions are looked at honestly.
mozlems are leaving the 57 Moslem dominated hell-holes to force a global kalifate down our Western freedom-loving throats.
It is not enough to politely say "no thanks".
~1400 years of ignoring the gangrene infecting the middle east and supporting the Nazis 70+ years ago.
The violent psychotic mozlems using the superficial mozlems(mozlems that have been taking advantage of the West's hospitality, and not voicing the improvement in living standards they have gained by living in the INFIDEL created CIVILISATION) for camouflage and materiel support.
All the more reason for the 2nd Amendment, and why Pam Geller (and all citizens) have an absolute right to self defense.
But, no, she is not entitled to special protection at my expense.
would receive Secret Service protection for
l0 years. Good enough. But the WH PukePod
changed that to LIFETIME protection. Thinking
of himself? Or scared for himself??
For anyone who doubts that there is a powerful faction of Islam that desires to restore the caliphate and sharia law around the world really isn't paying attention.
are envious of Pam!!! -- j
.
I read somewhere that she is a Jew. (Someone here said she's Christian). I'm not a Jew but I don't care. Which or whatever.
Her being a Jew or a Christian with Jewish roots would in part explain her big time problem with radical Muslims.
I've read all the comments here and noticed that someone called her a bigot.
Modern day Muslim extremists are the worst bigots on the face on the planet. They act like bygone Nazis.
Modern day Christians and Jews do not kill people they disagree with.
Radical Muslims such as ISIS do not only commit multiple murders, they think up horrible ways of doing it. They also take little girls for sex slaves.
I've heard Geller speak speak against Shariah Law being implemented in the USA.
Shariah Law--Talk about a for really real big time barbaric war on women!
The lesson I learn here is that if these people are going to have the same constitutional rights as everyone else, then we at least need some police around who speak Arabic, so that it isn't any easier for them to hide crimes than it would be for you and me.
We do need cultural and linguistic Middle Easterners in our police force (and some of them will be Islamic). More, though, we need the police force itself to increase in quality.
Jan
Sigh. I think all of those things are straight on.
I like Pam Geller (personal reaction) but I agree with (b) and (c). On the other hand, I wish that hundreds of people would sponsor "Draw a Cartoon of Mo" contests - and that each of them would lure a couple of fanatics out of the woodwork to be shot by off-duty heroic cops. Very, Darwinian, that.
Where I do not agree with RonJohnson is that 'only two' fanatics is not something that we should be concerned about. If there were a "Draw a cartoon of Pope Frank" contest and 'only two' Catholic fanatics tried to kill the organizer it would outrage everyone, including the Catholic Church (and Frank!).
I think I donated to her in the past, but I am going to look up her site again and throw a few bucks in her direction to defray a bit of the 30K.
Jan, mouth=money
your words are. . Character. . Integrity. -- j
.
the media insisted on giving Caitlyn perhaps
more of us would be aware of what is really
happening re: Sharia Law. Go Pam!!
Christian beheadings facts show their character.
and, yes, I am speaking of radical Muslims only. -- j
.
of thousands, from Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. -- j
.
When you take a stand, you execute on a strategy, take a risk into a particular business, or activity, YOU are accountable for the "Risks" involved, be it walking through Harlem yelling racial epithets, or having Mohammed cartoon contests.
Where the "Injustice" is is expecting tax dollars to pay for her security since we are accountable for our own safety in life and business
If she asked for donations to fund her security I would be happy to contribute from a "Self-Interest" standpoint, but I would be offended to be FORCED to pay for her security via taxation.
Their action or reaction is not justifiable in any way, however that does not stop them from it.
Having said that, IF I were to run through Harlem, I would make sure I had a small army with me to protect me from said reaction that I know would come.
I do something, I need to know what I am doing, how people will react and FUND the protection myself.
http://pamelageller.com/
-- j
.
financial backing. -- j
.
Back on track. What State or States.the Federal Governments power stops with the Second Amendment ruling for the most part. So what does the State or States Constitutions offer?
That's the local cops and the question What are they for? Unless a known threat exists they are for investigating afterwards. Clearly a known threat in this case.Since a known threat exists the police are automatically involved and responsible - to the extent allowed by the State Constitution etc. etc. etc. To embellish livefree-NH's comment.
Not to be overly facetious but any news network might offer to pick up the bill if the results would help them during sweeps week - as long as they had an exclusive with book and movie rights.
Given the scenario I would put more faith in the latter than the former as a means of protection.
Unless there is a drastic change in occupancy
I rather like the answer given by minorwork but I'd still go for the book and movie deal. Guaranteed that's what the biggies are going to do beginning with the legacy building Obeyme.
Did he decide to abdicate yet?
While I defend her legal right to be obnoxious, just as I defend the right of a woman to dress in skimpy nothing, get drunk, and walk through a bad part of town at night, alone, it is imprudent for her to do so and I do not take it as my responsibility to protect her from her foolishness.
Pam Geller's thesis is that Islam is taking over and that the end-game is sharia law. There is precious little evidence of this, except for the few extreme deranged people who have reacted to her provocations. The vast vast majority of Muslims have simply ignored her and her antics. The vast vast majority of Muslims are NOT lobbying for sharia to be legally adopted.
Pam Geller is a bigot. She may have an expectation to be left alone by the government when she says and does inflammatory things, but she is disingenuous when she claims victim status for purposely provoking the tiny number of Islamic hotheads when they do exactly what she wants them to do.
the cartoon contest. This is backwards. Islamists provoked a cartoon contest
with multiple atrocities throughout the world.
Go Pam!!
I don't watch often, but occasionally the police dramas. Post-9/11, I saw quite a few plots involving terrorists who had committed violent crimes, and were of course foiled or apprehended in the end. Fine, But then there was always the final scene wrap-up, and it almost always turned out that the terrorist had a town bombed, or a loved one etc.killed by a US bomb strike or something similar. Never really motivated by ideology, of course. These types of wrap-ups were strangely missing in the shows about your plain, vanilla murderer or rapist.
I am so tired of the ridiculous meme that we (the US) are creating these guys. C'mon...if I want the "abuse excuse" I'll tune into Oprah, Montel or Dr.Phil...
In fact, only TWO Muslims took overt criminal action. Millions of Muslims in this country, and tens of thousands in the Dallas area, ignored her, which was the proper reaction.
blasphemy to draw a caricature of Mohammed, then
people would do it without concern. . since there is
concern, and since we have a first amendment,
drawing caricatures of Mohammed is essential
to preserving freedom. . thus, her contest was a
freedom-promoting activity. . the negative response
was anti-freedom illegal self-expression. -- j
p.s. Mary or Jesus in a jar of urine is also essential
to the preservation of freedom. . others can do it, though.
.
Not so with Muslims...
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...
I used to ride bikes with one and ate lunch with
another several times -- fine people!!! -- j
p.s. things have sure become heavily stratified
in several areas -- religion, politics, race, wealth.......
.
You are doing that here. You are the bigot.
Pam Geller is absolutely right to force people who follow that principle to reveal themselves, hopefully before they kill anyone.
However, I have also criticized Pam Geller for purposely trying to incite the rare unstable Muslim so she can smear the millions of peaceful Muslims that live all around us.
Lest you think that only Muslims are incited to violence by protected First Amendment activities, let me remind you of David Cole. As a young man he did a documentary in which he asserted that there were no gas chambers at Auschwitz, and he went so far as to associate with Holocaust revisionists on broadcast TV to promote that point of view. The result is the ADL put a price on his head, and he was forced to issue a retraction he did not believe, change is name, and hide his identity for the next 20 years.
Did the ADL and Jews in general 'reveal themselves' when they threatened him with death? NO! That was actions taken by specific individuals...never prosecuted, by the way.
That's all Pam Geller is doing. She's inciting the unstable, and she is a fool for doing so.
Anyone who is out to destroy Western religious tolerance and multiculturalism should not be allowed to benefit from those policies.
The same goes for the lefties whose idea of tolerance stops where political incorrectness begins. But at least most of them aren't killing their opponents, yet.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...
I suspect you did not read my comment very carefully, because I said that I would defend the right of a woman to dress provocatively if she wished, but I would consider it foolish for her to do so in certain circumstances. Of course the attacker is the guilty party, but a fine lot of good that knowledge does her when she is permanently scarred by an attack. Prudence would have been better protection than your moral outrage.
"Society" DID say the specific reaction by a specific individual was criminal. Nobody is disputing that. Pam Geller has used that one attack as her evidence that 1.2 billion people (or the radical 120 million, you say) are also guilty. Nonsensical. Unjust.
I'm aware there are many strains of Islam. Your explanation is a nice concise overview. I'm also aware that until our military response to 9/11, the radical Islamists were fringe. We helped push part of the moderate Muslim world into the radical camp by our aggressive foreign policy of manipulation and domination that was a disaster for the Muslim world. Hundreds of thousands dead, millions displaced. It would not be hard for many of them to conclude that the U.S.'s primary policy was anti-Muslim.
what she said on Fox when I saw her. . twice. . now,
Ayaan Hirsi Ali does include all of Islam -- but she
was cut when she was young, and has experienced
awful things. . Pam is not quite that inclusive. -- j
.
she wanted." . I am certain that she wants NO reaction,
and gets a negative one. . it's like the U.S. flags
which fly from the dual antennas on my Harley --
I do not want a positive reaction, or a negative one --
it is self-expression. . I am a retired USAF LtCol. -- j
.
.
Geller has more than ample evidence on her side that her opinions are actions are more than reasonable and well thought out. While "Nazis marching in Skokie" well fits your description of "ugly, provocative and unpopular speech" that yes should be protected speech, I don't think that describes what Pam Geller is saying and doing, nor the general public reaction to it.
No direct comparison intended, but I'm pretty sure that when Patrick Henry exclaimed "Give me liberty or give me death" he was damn well being provocative, and rightly so. And a lot of his contemporary fellow citizens did not
I like her, and admire her.
Apologies in advance for ranting against a very minor part of your post. The rest is excellent.
I don't care if Pam is a bigot, either. The question was whether or not I like her. I do not. I don't like her bigotry, I don't like the way she disrespects people. I defend her right to be a bigot under the law, and therefore anybody who attacks her should be prosecuted. I also recognize that she is intentionally trying to set off some unstable individuals in order to smear an entire population of peaceful people. That is despicable.
No where is the initiation of violence tolerated by rational human beings. ISIS is not rational.
As I stated in my comment, I defend her right to say whatever she wants, but I consider her to be despicable. She wants a violent response, that's why she does what she does.
But notice that she does not walk through a Black neighborhood in Chicago and yell "N-ggers" to prove that blacks are against free speech. She does not go to a biker bar and call them all "p-ssys' to prove they are anti-free speech. She would be just as likely to get a violent response in both of those cases as she has with the 'draw Mohammed' stunt.
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/20...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/01/07...
http://en.radiovaticana.va/news/2014/07/...
I agree with you, but we're not protecting her from her foolishness. We're protecting the right to be an obnoxious idiot from criminals. I believe the right to be an idiot or wear revealing clothes is absolute. Exercising those rights does not mitigate the guilt of someone who commits a crime against them.
People have every right to walk in a "bad part of town". She's exercising her right to be obnoxious.
Point is why are we or any country granting citizenship to those whose intent is to immediately show an overt and open contempt for the country? I wonder if during the swearing in ceremony does the presiding Judge notice any covered faces? How else would they know who was becoming a citizen?
Just a thought.
Prudence and common decency says that we don't go out of our way to offend. We don't use the term 'n-gger' because we know it upsets some people. We don't call Hell's Angels 'p-ssys' because it could lead to broken bones.
Frankly, Pam Geller could have drawn pictures of Mohammed all day long and it would not have been an issue...except that she made sure it WAS an issue by putting out a very public call for participation and sweetening her abrasiveness with a $10,000 award. Nothing could have been more in-your-face that what she did.
She had every right, legally and morally, to do what she did. But it does not change the fact that she was crass and insensitive. As with yelling "p-ssy" in a biker bar, she could reasonably expect a reaction. That doesn't forgive the attackers, but it makes Geller a lot less sympathetic as a victim. She was virtually begging to be attacked.
It is for her calculated intention to provoke that I don't like her. She is NOT interested in live and let live, as witnessed by the fact that she protested an entirely peaceful gathering of Muslims at the same venue in Dallas a couple of months earlier.
"The fighting words doctrine, in United States constitutional law, is a limitation to freedom of speech as protected by the First Amendment to the United States Constitution.
In 1942, the U.S. Supreme Court established the doctrine by a 9–0 decision in Chaplinsky v. New Hampshire. It held that "insulting or 'fighting words,' those that by their very utterance inflict injury or tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace" are among the "well-defined and narrowly limited classes of speech the prevention and punishment of [which] … have never been thought to raise any constitutional problem."
Wikipedia
I associate the phrase with the South. In my part o the country, someone saying something really mean and stupid is not an excuse to hit them.
I err on the side of free speech, though. I find it very dangerous to consider something that sounds remotely like discourse, even stupid angry childish discourse, as outside the domain of free speech.
I also am pretty sure we don't have them in my state. In the eyes of the law you can same something godawful about someone with no policy message at all, and it's not self-defense if someone gets mad and hits you.
Unless Geller is calling a person an Islamo-fascist to his face in a public place, there is no violation of the Fighting Words doctrine. If she did, however, and got a punch to the nose, she would be the cause of her own injury.
Fighting Words as a legal doctrine does not apply to Geller, as best I can tell.
Public rejection and defiance of savages running around trying to behead innocent people over religious accusations of "blasphemy" and threatening civilization is not "crass and insensitive". This is America, not the Land of Dhimmitude. They deserve to be obliterated back to the 7th century they came from and where they want to be.
As Pamela Geller's NY subway poster on behalf of defending Israel put it: "In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man" (which apparently came from a similar statement by Ayn Rand). The CNN interviewer displayed a big smirk when she "accused" Pamela Geller of saying that, illustrating once again the depravity of those who pander to the savages.
I am unclear as to who, exactly, she is opposed to. All people who follow the Muslim faith? Or is she only opposed to the fundamentalist radicals who have committed highly publicized violent crimes? If the latter, she has good company because the vast majority of Muslims also oppose the radicals. But Geller does not partner with any Muslims, as far as I have seen. Instead, she goes out of her way to insult them. Their response was to ignore her. Only a couple of unstable individuals reacted violently, and they were condemned by other Muslims. Perhaps Geller's, and your, understanding of how the vast majority of people practice Islam is flawed.
All religions have their fringe. There is a Jewish fringe in Israel that has openly advocated and justified the killing of non-Jews. Fringe Christians have used the Bible to kill doctors who perform abortions, or kill Jews who they believe are decendents of those who killed Christ. These individuals do not define Judaism or Christianity, nor do the two gunmen in Dallas define the tens of thousands of Muslims in Dallas, not one of whom so much as protested Geller's gathering. Geller, on the other hand, rounded up a few hundred people to protest a peaceful gathering of Muslims at the same place a couple of months earlier.
Geller is not defending freedom. She attempted to use government force to prevent Muslims from building a community center and a mosque in NY. She mouths the words of freedom, but she acts very differently.
Don't think the Muslims haven't noticed.
It is not enough to politely say "no thanks".
~1400 years of ignoring the gangrene infecting the middle east and supporting the Nazis 70+ years ago.
The violent psychotic mozlems using the superficial mozlems(mozlems that have been taking advantage of the West's hospitality, and not voicing the improvement in living standards they have gained by living in the INFIDEL created CIVILISATION) for camouflage and materiel support.